First, it is not a single isolated case in traditional doctrine, for it has something like a counterpart in Hebrew angelology. Generally speaking, Michael is the angel of the Sun and Raphael is the angel of Mercury, but sometimes the relationship is reversed. On the other hand, if Michael, as the representative of the solar Metatron, is assimilated esoterically to Christ, Raphael, according to the meaning of his name, is the "divine healer," and Christ appears also as "spiritual healer" and as "repairer"; one could find also other connections between Christ and the principle represented by Mercury among the planetary spheres. [NA: If Hindu doctrine considers the Buddha as being the ninth avatar of Vishnu, that is the Mliccha (foreign) avatar, this does not necessarily exclude other divine interventions that have taken place on behalf of "foreign" (non-Hindu) peoples during this same period. In particular, Christ might even be said to share with the Buddha the ninth avataric function, since his first coming was, for the West, what the advent of the Buddha was for the Far East (and what the Koranic "descent" was for the "middle" region). Now, as we have seen in connection with the Buddha, the ninth avatar is a "Mercurial" manifestation. It would seem then that the two comings of Christ may be related to his "Mercurial" and "Solar" aspects, the Solar Christ being Christ Glorious, that is, the tenth or Kalki avatar, who is to come at the end of the cycle, the "white horse" of this final descent being a solar symbol par excellence. As to the first coming of Christ, it may be mentioned that the month of May takes its name from Mercury’s mother, Maia, who is said to be one of the Pleiads and to whom that month was consecrated in ancient times; and in Christianity it has become "the month of Mary," by an assimilation, which is doubtless not merely phonetic, between Maria and Maia. (This note has been somewhat modified by the translator in the light of conversations that he had with the author many years after the article had been written.)] It is true that, for the Greeks, medicine was attributed to Apollo, that is, to the solar principle, and to his son Asklepios (in Latin Aesculapius); but in the "Hermetic books" Asklepios becomes the son of Hermes, and it is also to be noted that the staff that is his attribute is closely related, symbolically, to the Caduceus. [NA: Around the staff of Aesculapius is coiled a single serpent, which represents the benefic force, the malefic force being bound to disappear inasmuch as the attribute in question belongs to the genius of medicine. The relationship may also be noted between this same staff of Aesculapius, as an emblem of healing, and the biblical symbol of the "brazen serpent" (see Symboles Fondamentaux de la Science Sacrée, Chap. 20).] The example of medicine shows us how one and the same science can have aspects that relate to different orders and that therefore have different correspondences, even if the outward effects obtained seem to be alike, for there is purely spiritual or "theurgic" medicine, and there is also Hermetic or "spagyric" medicine; this is directly related to the question we are considering and helps to explain why medicine, from the traditional point of view, was considered essentially as a sacerdotal science. Essays: Hermes